>> good bhoerng to yo-- good mo to you i am heather nauert.

>> i am heather brown. >> thank you for watching "fox friends first. >> a massive storm pounding the midwest turns deadly overnight. car crashes leaving 6 people dead. >> here's a look at why. drivers can barely see the road ahead of them. in a video it is a mess out there. fliers are traveling more than 1,000 flights have been canceled. >> snow totals are incredible for portions of wisconsin close to 20 inches of middleton cross lanes and even michigan at a foot of snow. and with the blowing snow that is causing the treacherous conditions on the roadways and in the air. i want to point out we have

another storm moving in the pacific northwest and california. this is the main event millions of people live here millions of people traveling to get home. low pressure system is centered across the great lakes, the cold front associated with it moving across the northeast. that low will move into canada and the front will push offshore later on today. for now anywhere from philly to boston very messy. a lot of folks heading to the airport. it will be a very trying morning unfortunately on all of the major airports across the corridor. that low moves into canada and the associated cold front will push out pretty quickly. by today around 9:00 a.m. moving nort new york city and by 3 p. mchl the bulk of the rainfall will be in new england and the snow. we will see the leftover snow across the great lakes. in some cases we could see a

foot of snow. by saturday and sunday out of here but ladies so man fee people are trav-- many people a travelling it will be a trying day on the roadways and airport. people may have to delay travel plans for the weekend. >> what a mess. >> want folks to be careful while they are traveling especially driving. >> it is time for the 5@5:00. we begin with another developing story. one of the two bank robbers we told you about, one of them has been busted. police just arresting 37-year-old joseph banks. we are waiting to get details about where this guy was caught. you remember the story banks and kenneth connelly broke out of prison by tieing bed sheets together and scurrying down nearly 20 stories until they got to freedom. >> today marks one week since the massacre at newtown. at 9:30 president obama holds a

moment of silence at the white house for the 20 children and 6 adults at sandy hook elementary in connecticut. investigators are saying it could take months to figure out why shooter adam lanza went on the deadly rampage. >> the house committee says shelly burke levi lated house rules and laws by using her position to benefit her husband's medical practice. no action is needed since she cooperated she is now retiring after 7 terms. >> hobby lobby lost appeal after being exempt from the obama care requirement the morning after pill. it will goes against the principals of the owners. they plan to take the case to the supreme court. it is one of 42 legal actions since the requirement took effect. >> nasa taking a page from buzz

light year? >> to infinity and beyond. >> well, of course that's toy story character buzz light year. this is prototype of nasa space soot. it is design to do allow mast naughts to mo around more easily. it is set to debut in 2015 schl our boys will like that one. brand new development in the battle to avoid the fiscal cliff. late last night house republicans opted not to vote on a plan b. with all of the detail osss on doug luzader. plan b is history now it is back to the drawing board with no clear path in sight to avert the fiscal cliff. members of the house are heading home for christmas. house speaker john boehner pulled from consideration what has been described as a backup plan which would have raised

taxes only on those making at least a million dollars a year. it became clear that he just didn't have enough votes in his own caucus to get it passed. he ran into stiff opposition from some republicans who say the root cause of the nation's problems is over spending. >> i would say we have different ideas and thoughts on approaches to this problem and we couldn't get enough census. i oppose the the bill. there wasn't enough votes to make it pass. >> where does that leave speaker boehner? here is his statement. now it's up to the president to work with senator reed to work on legislation to avert the fiscal cliff. the house has already passed legislation to stop all of the january 11th tax increases and replace the see quest tore with

possible spending cuts that will begin to address the nation's crippling debt. the senate must now act. here's the white house's take on the nonvote. the main priority of the president is to make sure taxes don't go up on 98 percent of americans and 97 percent of small businesses in a few short days. the president will work with congress and we are hopeful we will be able to find a bipartisan solution quickly that protects the middle class and our economy. the senate is in session today but that's it before christmas. both houses are going to be back later next week. that gives them precious little time to hammer out a deal. >> doug luzader in washington, thank you. >> that brings us to today's look who is talking. we are talking to speaker -- former speaker of the house. >> the pressure is now they say on the president to get a deal done by the end of the year.

listen to this. >> any democrat who thinks this president can avoid responsibility for the economy in the second term completely miss understands american history. he got away with blameling george w. bush for the first time. this is now going to be obama's economy. if it goes sour it will be obama's failure when it goes south. i think president owe bhaum has been such an orator, a lecturer, so much a guy at the center of things and so much power with pelosi and reed in the first two years he really has not gotten the rhythm. he and boehner should be meeting for hours and hours and hours. we calculated president clinton and i met for 35 days all together because you got to listen to each other. you dgot to say look, this is what i got to get this is what i can't do. is there some place in here where we can work something out. it takes a lot of time. i got a sense these two guys spend almost no time in serious

conversation. >> the markets reacting to a fact that a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff appears less likely. lauren simonetti from fox business network joins us now with more on this and other story you can bank on. the fiscal cliff looming ever closer and the markets not happy. >> what happened to all of the optimism on a positive resolution to the fiscal cliff deal. you thought we would get one and now anxiety running high that there won't be a deal by christ mass and maybe not by new years. stock futures tanked after the house did not take up a special tax measure because it didn't have support from members to pass. trading is more volatile because the volume is latighter. that's what we could see in the regular session today as many head home for the holidays. pew tours recovered a little bit but they are still down big time. so mean while facebook is considering an option where you have to pay a small fee to send somebody is message if they are

not your friend? >> so basically if there's someone you like you want to spend them a message you can do so and you don't inundate their inbox by doing that. that's one of the thing facebook is testing. >> it's a deterrent from spamming other people if you have to pay a fee to do it. >> you can only receive one paid message a day. so that limits it as well. >> another business story that is becoming bigger now with all of the bad weather across the country shipping of people's christmas presents getting delayed. >> so much snow in the midwest yesterday which was ups's busiest shipping day of the year really messed things up. it has ups and fed-ex really watching the weather. the teams of meteorologists are working hard. so far everything has been good and smooth but if you want your gift in time for christmas it's not guaranteed with this weather. look at it here in new york. it is so wet and rainy you have

to image it is going to be delayed. >> you may get it on time but wount have time to wrap it. >> have your bags ready with tissue. >> heather? >> even if you don't get your christmas gift by tuesday hopefully you will enjoy the christmas lights. take a look at this. 65,000 lights displays . the neighbors aren't happy. some complain it's too disturbing. the owner received a noise violation ticket. that's the question today. is this display too bright or just right? send us the comments you can tweet them at fox friends first or shoot us an e-mail at foxx

friendsfirst@foxnews.com. that was bright, wasn't it? a man held until prison for what many people think for no reason. we will have the details straight ahead. >> christmas trees dangerous. we will tell you why firefighters are reathreatening take your tree away without your permission. furs as we take a break let's look at late night with jimmy fallon. have you seen this? there's a photo going on of a man dressed bike spider-man. kind of cute. obama is like shouldn't you be fighting the green goblin? the kid was like shouldn't you be working on the fiscal cliff? ♪ the weather outside is frightful ♪

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we are at the airport. a lot of people in new york city across the country say the word winded and always kicking up. this is the last thing that people want to hear as they are heading out. they don't want to see the words delayed or canceled on the big board. but we know that to be the case for so many fliers across the country. it is because of the massive storm in the midwest. wer checking the big boards we

don't see any major cancellations this morning. that is the latest from laguardia. i will send it back to you in the studio. >> teresa, thank you so much. we will check back in with janice dean in just a little bit. >> time for a look at who is talking. in a few hours the former marine who remains chained to a bed in mexico may learn his fate. they will decide if they lwill free hammar or spend time in prison for 15 years. >> he has been locked up since the month of august for carrying an antique weapon across the border. this is a weapon he declared. >> former u.s. ambassador is outraged mexico is playing politics with this. >> it has to do with the mexican government plaming the united states for part of the drug cartel problem. their view is it's all of these

american firearms flooding mexico illegally. i swear they have been sympathetic to that charge through the years. that is one of the motives of the fast and furious operations. the only conclusion i think you can draw is if the mexican government is using this particular case to make a larger point. that is when you have to apply political pressure much higher levels. mexico can do a lot of things easy. it is christmas, generosity. they can say it's a farewell president to hillary clinton. they can say whatever they want. the important thing is to get it out and later to deal with the mexican government and make it absolutely clear this conduct by them is unacceptable to

americans. >> meanwhile lawmakers are calling for a national travel boycott to mexico until hammar is home. the time 18 after the hour. coming up a major recall for a popular pickup truck. why drivers may be left unable to see. >> then you have probably seen a lot of these products on the shelves. they promise to give you a real caffeine buzz. there's a hidden danger to some of them and some of them are-marketed to kids.

>> 22 after the hour. here's what happened while you were 14r50eisleep can.

ghoents recalling 19,000 gmc canyon and chevrolet colorado pickups. it effects model years 2010 to 2012. they may not have a secondary hood latch it could cause the hood to fly up. the younger brother of bernie madoff may spend the next 10 years behind bars for help with the biggest ponzi scheme in history. some are outrage pd he's not spending more time in jail for wiping out their life's savings. >> when coffee doesn't cut it for you a lot of people are reaching to these so-called energy foods. but there's a hidden danger with some of these products. good morning, doctor. these are all caffeinated products. there are more on the market these days. >> it is a big industry it has gone up to 2.5 million.

i am a big advocate to cough fee. there are a lot of anti-oxidants great to prevent colon cancer. these are different because they get absorbed in a totally different way. kids can take them. pregnant woman can take them by accident. it can be a health hazard for your children. for your kids. if you look at these lollipops it can get sucked right through the mucosa and increases your heart rate. >> it hits you phatser than drinking the coffee. >> which is the purpose of this. everyone is looking for a quick fix. we are not a tolerant nation and they want something really fast. this c it can get you jittery increasing your heart rate. any kind of cardiac or heart condition this is not good. >> people with high blood pressure should be careful about consuming too much caffeine. >> that's right. that brings us to the point

caffeine you can treat it as a drug. it really gets into your system. it effects your sympathetic system your heart rate and blood pressure. it can put you in an emergency room. if you have any kind of heart condition you don't want high energy high caffeinated. >> i am feeling very caffeinated this morning because i took one of these to give it a try. i am feeling awfully jittery. to your point your body absorbs it faster than a regular cup of coffee. >> it's interesting you bring this up. some of these for example if you take two strips it's almost about 1 and a half cups of coffee so it does work but it gives you that increased heart rate. the fda should really get involved in this. these products go under the radar. they don't put on the labels how much caffeine you have. >> the other concern is

children. they like to buy these red bulls and they can tolerate less caffeine than adults. >> adults can take up to 300 milligrams of caffeine. that's about 3-4 cups of coffee. children and they should only go up to 100. any more than that it's not really healthy. >> if you have this in your household you need to be careful about this. what does it do to your children? >> it's the same effect. it makes them excited increases heart rate. >> knit effects? >> they haven't been on the market long enough. you want to be careful. >> important for parent to know. 25 minutes past the hour. your taxes are hard at work. the system declared bankruptcy but first it pays millions of dollars in unused sick days to employees who are footing the bill. >> a car in flames the driver trapped inside, what would you do? you are about to find out what a

total stranger did in this situation. >> this day in history walt disney release this had one snow white and the seven dwarfs, 75 years ago. how about that. [ male announcer ] when it comes to the financial obstacles military families face, we understan at usaa, we know military life is different. we've been there. that's why every bit of financial advice we offer is geared specifically to current and former military members and their families. [ laughs ] dad! dad! [ applause ] ♪ [ male announcer ] life brings obstacles. usaa brings advice. call or visit us online. we're ready to help. [ engine revs ] ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] the mercedes-benz winter event is back,

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>> well dom bacome back to "fox

friends" first. >> we have a monster storm pounding the midwest. it turns deadly overnight. car crashes leaving 6 people dead. >> what a mess the road ways are. here is a look why. here is video coming in from the state of iowa. drivers can barely meet the storm. passengers trying to get on planes. >> luckily janice dean is keeping a close eye on the storms. hi again, janice. >> hi patti ann and heather. incredibly cold air. that is the winds factored in with the company. minus 16 at international falls. minus 5 in indianapolis. you get the picture things are cold. you have the snow on the ground and with the wind gusting 30-40

miles per hour that will make travel across the road ways and in the air very, very dangerous in some cases. we will keep you posted. the associated cold front bringing all of this moisture up to the great lakes. from philadelphia up towards new york and boston you want to call ahead if you are at the airport. things are going to be delayed to say the least. here are your winter weather advisories across the great lakes, ohio river valley interior northeast. heavy snow across the great lakes. we could still see wind gusts at 50 miles per hour. with the glowing snow it will make things very, very treacherous. be safe today that's the best rule be safe if you have to tral. back to you heather and patti ann. >> 16 below for international falls. >> they are hearty folks.

>> a bank robber who broke out of prison four-days ago has been busted. they are waiting for details about how and where he has been caught. banks and kenneth connelly broke out of prison scurrying down 20 stories to freedom. the second longest serving senator in all of u.s. history. democratic senator from hawaii lining state in the capitol rotunda. bob dolce saluting his friend there. they met in an army hospital in 1945. they were both recovering from wounds they obtained in world war 26789 a memorial service is being held at the washington

national cathedral. >> a good samaritan hopes to save three people trapped in a burning car and it is all caught on tape. a good samaritan was on the scene first and helped pull the passenger out of the car. that's when officers arrived all of them pulling out two more people who are unconscious. the city of san bernardino will tell a judge it is so in debt it is releasing the debt. they doled out $2 million to employees before it declared bankruptcy in august. it was for unused vacation time and sick time. city officials say the timing is a coincidence. they have a 46 million deficit at this time. they are trying to save

lives. live christmas trees in apartment building lobbies are being removed by the fdny. the trees are a fire hazard. upset residents say the lobbies are part of their homes and removing the trees kills the holiday spirit. >> developments overnight in the battle to avoid the fiscal cliff which is less than two weeks away. house republicans voted not to vote on a plan b doug luzader is live in washington. >> i hope we still have the christmas spirit in washington. it is about to become a ghost town because everybody is heading out of town with no deal on the fiscal cliff. house republicans left the meeting last night with their leadership. they called it the plan b because it didn't have enough gop support in the past.

others drew a line. in fact... >> that's the same 40, 50 chuckle heads all year starting with hr 1 has screwed this place up. he has done everything in his power to make nice with them to bring them along and make them feel included. it hasn't mattered. i don't fault him. he does his best. >> raises taxes on any one isn't right to me. they are cutting spending that's what the problem is. republicans were able to pass a bill that protected the pentagon from the fiscal cliff cut. as far as the automatic across the board tax hikes are concerned that are part of the fiscal cliff it is now up to senate democrats. here's his statement the house has already passed legislation to stop all of the january 1st tax rate increases and replaces sec quest tore with responsibility spending cuts

that will begin to address our nation's crippling debt. the senate must now act. here is the response from the white house. the president will work with congress to get this done. we are hopeful we will be able to find a bipartisan solution that protects the middle class and our economy. after today the entire congress is on christmas vacation returning later next week. we may see turmoil in the market because of this failed vote last night. dow futures are already down this morning. back to you guys. do you luzader, thank you. >> it is time now to entertain this. season two of the x factor has come to a close and the winner is... d tate stevens. >> country singer tate stevens coming out on top. the teen singers carlie and claire came in second and girls

from 5th harmony finished third. ♪ >> stevens a construction worker and family man gets a $5 million record contract and we will talk with him on fox and friends coming up at 8:30. >> move over justin bieber there's a new king of the twitter verse and it's the pope. 50 percent of pope benedict's follower retweeted his first tweet. not nearly one percent of bieber's did the same for his most popular tweet. kim kardashian is coming to the big screen. >> that blouse is telling it all. >> what's wrong with my dress? >> can't even breathe. >> she plays a fashion obsessed business woman in tyler perry's new film confessions of a marriage counselor. >> don't miss that. >> it is time for a look at the starting lineup. rg 3 is ready to go.

mike shanahan says the rookie quarterback will play sunday against the eagles. he missed last week's game a sprained knee. another honor for michael phelps. for the second time he got the ma male athled. winning more gold thany medals than any other olympian. >> a dolphin at the miami aquarium picked the notre dame fighting irish. he is 2-0 with his picks. you might want to go to the dolphin. >> 20 minutes before the hour as we are taking a look at this. the government just spent more than $4 million to create some jobs they say. but to pay salaries? a handful of bigwigs. >> you want to know how cold it really is outside, throw boiling water off your balcony. we will tell you the story

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>> the deadly storm moving across the country making a mess tore holiday travelers. angelica doria is here with more. >> we are here in west bend about 45 minutes north of milwaukee. here we are dealing with more than a foot of snow within the last 24-hours. obviously several inches have come down. we are still getting some flakes this morning. but the main focus today obviously is digging out. we have had road crews construction crews salt trucks around the clock working obviously plowing all of the snow from parking lots from the

streets. the street are still snow covered. so now a lot of people waking up going to have to dig about a foot of snow from their driveways. as for travel, though, it did prove -- it did pose some problems for drivers last night. we had several accidents a lot of spinouts. but after anything severe nothing too bad in west bend, wisconsin. we are dealing with several power outages as well. several00 people are without power because of the weight of the no brought down trees and some of the branch dids fall on power lines. power crews are working around the clock obviously to restore power to people. as for people who are travelling during this holiday season in the skies there were several flights canceled or delayed at mitchell international airport yesterday. last check today all of the flights are back up and running. they had to play catchup with all of the flights.

that is the latest from west bend wisconsin. fox news. thank you so much angelica. all righty. list tone this one. we are getting new details about how taxpayers and you are forking out nearly $5 million for 35 department of transportation employees who are also union officials. their salaries are expected to only go up. here to explain is diane mass can he macedo from the fox business network. tell us how this is working. >> 35 department of transportation employees are making salaries of upwards an average of 140,000 dollars a year. not to work for the public but to work full-time for their unions. according to documents obtained through americans for limited government freedom of information act request 20 of those employees work for the national air traffic controllers association with 8 of them making more than 170,000 dollars a year and only three of the 35

make less than 100,000 a year. the lowest earner among them made almost 81,000. the study by heritage foundation said the average air traffic controller compensation is expected to rise towards 200,000 in the last five years. the average american makes 50,000 a year and average dot employee makes 70,000. federal employee unions aren't legally allowed to negotiate compensation but they can bargain on other working conditions through out the federal government and departments and agencies are obligated to pay career employees who payoff fish shall time performing union duties. the department of transportation paid more than $15.4 million in those in 2010. that's compared to 12.5 million in 2009. we don't know where it is now but pretty fair guess it is hire than that. also looking to look at cutting

spending. thank you very much diane mass can heed s -- diane macedo. >> 14 minutes before the hour. don't mess with the driver right here. >> road rage taken to a whole new level. whoa. road rage taken to a whole new level. wow, look at that. >> still haven't finished your christmas shopping we have great last minute gifts including one that will keep on giving month after month. >> first let's see what's happening on fox and friends. >> allison voted for gretchen. she is going to help with breakfast. >> i ate my breakfast. >> plan b is down in flames for republicans. will there be a plan c? >> no. >> how about libya and the

investigation? what do we know, a whole lot of nothing. am i right, allison? x factor has a new example onas predicted by allison. tate will be here. the grinch is bad. a traffic cop with a great personality. that should be fun. whose hand is that? back in a moment. hmm, it says here that cheerios helps lower cholesterol as part of a heart healthy diet. that's true. ...but you still have to go to the gym. ♪ the one and only, cheerios

>> it is 10 minutes before the hour. the end of the world means end of class for hundreds of students today. the rest of student revolt forcing dozens of schools in michigan to close because of the mayan calendar predicted the end of the world today. the schools say it's easier to

close than deal with the distractions. the students won on this one. >> what happens to boiling water when it is thrown outside. hot water freezes faster than cold water so throwing the boiling water in the air freezes it instantly. take a look at that. patty ann. >> assuming the world doesn't end today you might want to finish your christmas shopping yet. the founder of young married she chic.com. >> gift cards are good. >> gift cards are a great option you ensure people don't return them. you can do anything like a gas card is great especially with the cost of gas. itunes cards are always good and american express is a card you can always put money on. >> no fees on that. >> no fees on that. >> you don't have someone returning a gift. >> amazon.com.

they are always great. >> gift baskets. >> gift baskets are great because then the store put together a nice item for you. sams club has a nice pasta night basket. that would be great to give to your favorite couple you supply date night for them with the pasta sauce everything they need for a full meal. they have it wrapped up for you and it's all very, very nice. >> all right. a monthly gift that keeps on giving. >> the subscription boxes are all of the rage right now. this one from pop sugar again someone else has chosen the gifts for you. even though the person might not get it right away you can print off these slips and put it in a card for them and shows them they have a three month subscription. >> all kind of different things in the box. >> hand picked items in food, fashion and home. they have the december and october boxes with all kinds of different items. >> items for kids stocking stuff. >> stocking stuff for kids this jam speaker box here see if i

can get it working. it's great because it's wireless. you can see here got it hooked up to my phone. >> and we can hear it. >> we can hear it. >> there we go. >> you can play your music from a device anywhere in the crowd. >> we have an auto repair kit. anything you might need when you are stuck in a pinch in a car. we have everything from a knife to a poncho to a flashlight, screw driver. anything you are going to need especially with all of the winter weather that's coming up. >> for women an emergency kit. >> an emergency kit. i say it has everything in there except for the kitchen sink. it has advil, pain-killers all kinds of dent el floss, de owed ant. anything for a night out. it's a really small kit so it's great for a stocking stuff. >> the men's emergency kit has flashlight and women's has nail

polish. >> so much bigger. >> young married chic.com. thank you for helping us out. >> next on the rundown take a look at this. the craziest road rage you have ever seen. a man jumps on to the roof of a car and punches through the windshield. there it is. the u.s. ambassador really get inning in the christmas spirit. you think this is the good, the bad or the ugly? coming up we will show you some of your christmas cards.

.... ... let's give thanks -

for an idea. a grand idea called america. the idea that if you work hard, if you have a dream, if you work with your neighbors...

you can do most anything. this led to other ideas like lerty and rock 'n' roll. to free markets, free enterprise, and free refills. it put a man on the moon and a phone in your pocket. our country's gone through a lot over the centuries and a half. but this idea isn't fragile. when times get tough, it rallies us as one. every day, more people believe in the american idea and when they do, the dream comes true. we're grateful to be a part of it. >> time now for the good, bad and the ugry . olivia culpo celebrated her win and threw her diet out the windo. she went back to the hotel room and treated herself to a

giant bowl of pasta and a cupcake. a driver not happy he was rear ended. he backed the car in the car and slammed his fis on the windshield . no one was hurt and he turned himself in to the police. holiday greetings to the u.s. ambassador on to fin lard . he showed a different side of himself . that is our representative in finland. kind of creepy. >> earlier in the show we asked you if a massive 60,000 christmas light display in california was too bright. excess exive if they are afford the electric bill more power to them. >> we showed it to you earlier. it really is, it is bright. >> hockey